YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. - The Georgia Southwestern baseball team belted a season-high 19 hits in its 10-7 Game 1 win on Friday evening at Young Harris College and followed that with a 2-1 victory in Game 2 on Saturday as pitcher Dylan Brown delivered a complete-game, four-hitter at Zell B. Miller Field. The Peach Belt Conference series finale was canceled due to inclement weather.
GSW wrapped up its 2016 campaign with an overall record of 25-24 and a mark of 8-21 in the PBC while Young Harris finished at 12-37 overall, 6-23 in conference play. It was the first time the Hurricanes finished over .500 since 2011, and the third time since joining the NCAA in 2007.
GSW went 6-3 over its final nine games, including 5-2 in conference play.
FRIDAY: GSW 10, YOUNG HARRIS 7
The Hurricanes had seven batters post multiple hits in the series opener as the team belted a season-best 19 in the 10-7 win.
Devyn Newberry put GSW on the board in the second inning with an RBI single up the middle that scored Will Redding.
A pair of doubles in the fifth inning spurred a three-run frame for the Hurricanes as Dakota Long, Brett Burgess and Redding collected RBIs.
Young Harris followed with four unanswered runs to even the game at 4-4 before GSW regained the lead in the seventh inning on a Burgess bunt single that plated Alex Kranick.
The Mountain Lions tied it up again with a run in the bottom half of the seventh.
Kranick doubled in the eighth inning to score Brandon Weaver and crossed the plate two batters later on a Zach Barron single. This time Hurricanes would not relinquish the lead and they added three more runs in the ninth highlighted by a run-scoring double steal and a Kranick RBI double.
Hurricanes starting pitcher Jordan McIlwain threw 104 pitches and lasted six innings before making way for Chad Adkins. McIlwain surrendered four runs and seven hits while walking a pair and striking out seven. Adkins (2-0) held Young Harris to one unearned run over two innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out two. Mitch Holloway covered the ninth.
Kranick went 4-for-5 at the plate in the opener with two doubles, two RBIs, a walk and he scored three times. Newberry stole home, was 3-for-6 at the plate and drove in a run.
Brett Westmoreland led Young Harris with a 3-for-5 performance.
Young Harris starter Michael Livingston threw 100 pitches over five innings, allowed four runs and nine hits, walked one and struck out three. Brent Thomas tossed 1 1/3 innings before Jack Ganter (1-1) struggled over 2 1/3 and gave up five runs on eight hits and walked three. Johnny Spring was called on to record the final out.
SATURDAY: GSW 2, YOUNG HARRIS 1
Both sides picked up all of their runs in the seventh inning. GSW parlayed three hits into two runs while Young Harris scored on a one-out double but left the tying run at third.
Game 2 of the series was all about Dylan Brown. The big lefty went the distance in 113 pitches, scattered four hits, walked three and struck out four to improve his record to 5-1. Brown faced the minimum four times and YHC had a runner in scoring position on only two occasions. Brown ended the season red-hot as he held opponents to two earned runs over his final 25 innings on the hill and won two conference starts.
Evan Alderman produced the big hit for GSW in the seventh inning with a two-out, RBI single through the left side that scored Davey King. Alderman was picked off on the next play, but stayed in a rundown long enough to allow Devyn Newberry to score the eventual game-winning run from third.
Troy Kizer delivered a one-out, RBI double in the bottom half of the seventh for Young Harris but was stranded at third after a wild pitch as Brown locked up the final out of the inning.
Alderman and King paced the Hurricanes with two hits apiece in what would turn out to be the season finale as Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader was washed out.
Young Harris did not have a batter finish with multiple hits.
The Mountain Lions starting pitcher Donald Frew (3-8) tried to match Brown but came up short in his complete-game effort. Frew threw 103 pitches, allowed eight hits and two runs, did not walk a batter and struck out two.